Breakdown of היה לנו דיון ארוך על העבודה, אבל בסוף קיבלנו החלטה פשוטה.
אבל
but
להיות
to be
עבודה
work
לנו
to us
Questions & Answers about היה לנו דיון ארוך על העבודה, אבל בסוף קיבלנו החלטה פשוטה.
Why does the sentence begin with היה לנו instead of a direct equivalent of we had?
Hebrew often expresses possession with a structure that is literally closer to there was to us.
- היה = was
- לנו = to us / for us
So היה לנו דיון ארוך literally means there was to us a long discussion, but in natural English we translate it as we had a long discussion.
This is a very common Hebrew pattern:
- יש לי שאלה = I have a question (literally: there is to me a question)
- היה לנו זמן = we had time
What exactly does לנו mean here?
לנו means to us or for us.
It is made from:
- ל־ = to
- נו = us / to us
In this sentence, it helps express possession:
- היה לנו דיון = we had a discussion
So even though לנו literally means to us, the whole phrase functions like we had in English.
Why is it היה and not היו?